Is natural immunity really able to protect you from catching COVID-19 as well as the vaccine?
According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, natural immunity is not as consistent as the immunity developed by receiving the COVID-19 shots.
The CDC report, based on studies and other unpublished data, found that natural immunity can last for at least 6 months following the first infection with the virus.
However, as mentioned before, the vaccine-produced immunity is more consistent and can also offer more antibodies even to those who were infected with COVID-19 in the past and recovered.
Researchers say that the CDC report proves the fact that vaccination leads to a “higher, more robust, and just a more consistent level of immunity to protect people from COVID than infection alone.”
So should you still get the jab if you’ve had COVID already or should you rely on your natural immunity?
The CDC also concluded that antibody levels can really vary from one person to another as far as natural immunity is concerned.
This means that no two infection cases are the same so it can be difficult to really know how well one is protected by their natural immunity.
The Washington Post reported that “The CDC’s bottom line is: Given what is known and not known about immunity, people who’ve been infected with the virus should still get vaccinated.”
With that being said, even those who have natural immunity might benefit from receiving the vaccines.
One report from NPR pointed out that a number of studies have discovered that people can gain “an extraordinarily powerful immune response” to COVID-19 if they’ve been infected and then fully vaccinated.
Virologist at Rockefeller University, Paul Bieniasz, who co-led research for a few of these studies, told NPR that “One could reasonably predict these people will be pretty well protected against most — and perhaps all of — the SARS-CoV-2 variants that we’re likely to see in the foreseeable future.”